Problems with Maps/Navigation

[stark23x]

First off, I have searched this issue 8 ways from Sunday, so I heartily apologize if I missed a thread that already discussed it. I know how annoying it can be to see the same stuff asked over and over!

Okay, my two current problems:

1. I would like a shortcut on one of my home screens that goes directly to the Directions section of Maps:

Is that possible?

2. Using voice to instigate a nav session (via car home, voice search, whatever) I literally cannot make it create a route to my home address by saying "Navigate to Home." I have done the following:

• Nicknamed my wife as "Home" with our address filled out in contacts
• Created a new contact named "Home" with our address
• Created a map on Google Maps called "Home" and starred it

Instead of showing me any of those things, it searches funeral homes and asks me if I want to go to one of those. Well, maybe someday, but not today, Droid, not today.

Am I asking Maps to do things it can't yet do, or am I just a clueless newb?

 

[gatewayad]

OK... #1 go to an empty space press on screen choose shortcuts scroll to Directions and NavigationEnter an address enter a shortcut name choose an icon.... DONE

#2... Say the address example if your home is 351 OHIO.... say Navigate to Three Fifty One Ohio then it should ask you to confirm

 

[gatewayad]

I know people do it all the time but I might recommend not using "HOME" as a destination but maybe some code word you are comfortable with. Had a friend that had had his car broken into at a football game they took his gps and garage remote, navigated to his house went thru his garage and robbed him while he was at the football game. I just hit the mic button and say navigate to 123 (my streetname)

 

[stark23x]

OK... #1 go to an empty space press on screen choose shortcuts scroll to Directions and NavigationEnter an address enter a shortcut name choose an icon.... DONE

Ah I see. I can just overwrite whatever address is in there. I can just put "123 nowhere lane." Yeah that'll work. Thanks.

#2... Say the address example if your home is 351 OHIO.... say Navigate to Three Fifty One Ohio then it should ask you to confirm

Doesn't work. It simply doesn't know my street name by how it is spoken. It spells it wrong *every* time. It's "Duane" and Maps wants to spell it "Dewayne" or once it was "Dewain" but never, ever "Duane." And it rarely even gets that. It thinks I'm saying "Lane" which is a street name about 6 miles from my house. So it tries to send me there a lot. :icon_eek:

Why doesn't it search known local phone data *first* instead of randomly trying to send me to other places? Even a simple search doesn't pull up my contact data first, it always defaults to searching the web

Also, it REALLY seems like I should be able to set a "Home" location in Maps and have it navigate back to that with a simple voice command. I know I can set a Home shortcut but that means I have to touch the phone and swipe it to a 4th screen, as my first three home screens are already full up!

The number of times I have to touch the phone to do basic navigation really makes Car Home fairly useless IMHO. But that's a whole other issue.

I know people do it all the time but I might recommend not using "HOME" as a destination but maybe some code word you are comfortable with. Had a friend that had had his car broken into at a football game they took his gps and garage remote, navigated to his house went thru his garage and robbed him while he was at the football game. I just hit the mic button and say navigate to 123 (my streetname)

Hey that's a really good point. Hadn't thought of that at all.

 

[gatewayad]

Yep thats a tough one with the voice recognition understanding a street name especially if you not close to home. I know there is some way to go online on your home computer and sign into google maps and setup favorites in My Maps and from there they should transfer to your phone if you are signed into google on the phone but i havent played with that end of it yet.

 

[stark23x]

OK... #1 go to an empty space press on screen choose shortcuts scroll to Directions and NavigationEnter an address enter a shortcut name choose an icon.... DONE

Ah I see. I can just overwrite whatever address is in there. I can just put "123 nowhere lane." Yeah that'll work. Thanks.

SO it turns out that in practice this just does not work. Nav starts and tries to navigate to "123 Anywhere" and when it can't find it, it asks "DO you mean ___long list of choices." Backing out of that, entering a new address, etc. actually adds steps.

Basically there really doesn't seem to be a way to create a shortcut directly to this screen:

Which is a shame. So many things about the Android experience are needlessly complex...I wish I had the programming skills and the courage to root this thing and make it how I want it. That being said, it's still the best phone I've ever owned.:biggrin:

 

[takeshi]

Which is a shame. So many things about the Android experience are needlessly complex.

It's not the only nav app available for Android. I'm not saying that the others are better (haven't tried them myself) but there are other options if you think another app might be better suited for you.

What else are you finding needlessly complex? Android is also quite extensible in my experience.

 

[rjax]

It's not a completely perfect solution, but maybe give the Nav Launcher App in the Market a try. The screen it opens to lets you type an address, select a contact's address, or select favorites/history from the Nav Launcher app itself, then it goes straight to Google Nav when you're done.

 

[metsnfins]

Nav Launcher is awesome

 

[stark23x]

Hey that Nav Launcher really does make it easier. I can plug things into Favorites and tap, tap tap and I'm navigating. Nice one! Thanks.

 

[jsh1120]

Hey that Nav Launcher really does make it easier. I can plug things into Favorites and tap, tap tap and I'm navigating. Nice one! Thanks.

I've used Nav Launcher so consistently that I'd forgotten it was a third party application. I realized several days ago that it isn't the only way to access navigation functions.

 

[rjax]

I have definitely gotten some good use out of Nav Launcher. Though I might be using it less because the Car Dock v2 app adds a shortcut you can add to your homescreen that takes you right to the page the OP wanted. (Long-press on a home screen, choose shortcuts, then scroll down and hit "Car Dock -- Google Navigation")

And with the technique in this this thread, you can rename your starred locations. (Though only using the web, so Nav Launcher is still better for quickly renaming a favorite.)